


Never be alone.

by missmysterious56



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Booker Whump, Booker needs a hug, Canon-Typical Violence, Hurt Booker, Hurt Some Comfort, Multi, Pain, Slight torture, Suffering, booker centric, i still haven't decided if it is too soon, love life problems, no beta we die like men, no beta we die like quynh, or - Freeform, slight canon complaint : give booker some love, theres fighting cause it's the old guard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:28:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25728970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missmysterious56/pseuds/missmysterious56
Summary: Booker never had a choice. He was kidnapped and brought to Merrick and given an ultimatum. One that could save his family or ruin them all.ORI felt bad for my baby Booker and decided what the hell why not torture him a little and make his life a bit more difficult but also give him some more love. You know?
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolo di Genova, Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Nicky | Nicolo di Genova
Comments: 9
Kudos: 210





	Never be alone.

**Author's Note:**

> pre warning I did write some of this during a power outage so sorry if there are any really bad mistakes!

It had happened because of a stupid fight. The three of them had been at a bar, innocently hanging out. As usual, Joe and Nicky were being coupley, while Booker looked on with love in his eyes. No one could outwardly tell that the three are together, not unless you truly knew them. 

“Can I buy you a drink?” A man asked, leaning into Booker’s space. The immortal warrior subconsciously moved backward just enough for some semblance of personal space. However, the drunken stranger in front of him did not seem to get the hint. Booker quickly spares a glance at his two lovers. Joe is looking at him, his eyes hard with anger, but his grip on the glass is harder. Booker is mildly surprised that the thing hasn’t shattered into a million little pieces yet. Nicky, on the other hand, looks completely calm as he examines Booker with those calculating eyes that the french man loves so much. 

“No, I’m okay thanks,” Booker says, turning his attention back t0 the man in front of him. As he speaks he motions to the glass of whiskey he had been nursing for quite a while now. The immortal french warrior turned back to his companions, thinking that the conversation was now over. Which is why it startles him so much when there is suddenly an arm wrapped around him, and lips brushing against his ear. 

“Please, I insist,” The man whispers in Booker’s ear, waving a hand at the bartender. Booker chances a glance in his lover’s directions, both look as if they are about to explode, but Booker gives the tiniest shake of his head. “Besides I want to get the man who I want in my bed.”

“Thank you, but I’m okay,” Booker says, his back straightening out so he is no longer slouched. The immortal takes the hand from around his shoulders and sets it on the table in front of them. “I am just trying to enjoy a night out with these gentlemen in front of me.”

“Well, if you change your mind, let me know,” The man says, throwing the other man a wink. Booker stiffens more if possible as a hand slips into his back pocket before retracting. The man that was flirting with him pulls away with a swift smack to Booker’s ass. Booker closes his eyes and mentally counts to three, trying his best not to attack the man. In front of him, Nicky and Joe are both trying to keep themselves calm. Reaching into his back pocket, Booker retrieves the number left for him and places it in the fire of the candle in front of him. 

“That son of a bitch!” Joe growls, standing. Booker glares at Joe while Nicky pulls his lover down back into his seat. Booker half listens to Joe’s angry rambling about the audacity some men have. “We’re going home.”

“I’m going to the bathroom,” Booker says in response. He wants to wash off his face. He knows it is silly; he hopes washing his face will help him feel better when his skin is crawling with disgust, but he can’t help himself. The man flirting with him had made him feel dirty and icky. Nicky doesn’t say anything. Instead, he just looks into Booker’s eyes, seemingly searching for something. Apparently, he finds it because moments later he is nodding. Before walking out of the bar with Joe he leans in close to Booker. 

“You’ll feel better once we’re done with you,” Nicky says, his mouth brushing against the shell of Booker’s ear and the younger immortal can’t help but shiver at both the words and the contact.

~

“You let him touch you!” Joe exclaims, shoving the younger immortal against a wall. Normally Booker wouldn’t mind such action as it normally leads to some very fun times for all of them; however, at this moment he can’t help but feel as if he is being threatened. 

“I didn’t have much of a choice, Joe! I wasn’t expecting him to do that!” Booker reasons, trying to stay calm. However, his resolve is starting to break. The former merchant had been rambling about it the entire way back to their current place of residence. 

“You always have a choice!” Joe responds growling. Nicky who had been watching from a distance starts forward but is pushed aside when he tries to separate the two. It is never a good thing when two headstrong men get in each other’s space. Especially these two men, who Nicky loves with all his heart. Yet, he knows that he can do nothing but hope it does not escalate too far. “You could have pushed him off the moment he put his arm around you, but you didn’t!”

“Oh, so you think I wanted some strange man to feel me up while I was just trying to enjoy a night out!” Booker exclaims, his resolve finally cracking and shattering like a piece of glass. Joe steps away as if he had been burned. Nothing more could have happened when Booker had gone to the bathroom… right?

“That’s not what I meant,” Joe tries, his voice suddenly quieter. They all know that in the moment that might not have been how he meant it but that is how it came out. Nicky glances back and forth between his lovers ready to intervene. However, instead of attacking Booker just looks broken. Tears pool in his eyes, finally letting the emotions he had been holding in so long boil over. 

“But that is exactly what you meant, Joe! You don’t want anyone else touching me but you or Nicky and yet you will leave for weeks without so much of a word so you and Nicky can go galavanting off somewhere without me! I just feel so alone! I can't do anything right whatever I do! I tried to get him off of me but he just wouldn't let up! I'm sorry okay? I'm sorry I ruined us! If there ever was an us,” Booker yells, tears pooling just waiting to cascade down his face. Nicky and Joe are thrown into a stunned silence. How had they missed all of this?

“Habibi,” Joe says reaching for him, his eyes soft as his voice. All signs of anger completely vanished. Nicky watches with mounting concern as Booker flinches away from the touch. The other blue-eyed immortal looks as if he isn’t even present here, but flinches on pure instinct and fear. Joe pulls away in shock, his eyes giving away the amount of concern he feels. Nicky wants to approach himself but thinks better of it. The Italian watches with bated breath as Joe reaches for the other man, counting it as a win when the other man doesn’t flinch away. 

“Don’t,” Booker says, sidestepping the touch, making his way to the door. This time Nicky steps in, just blocking the doorway. Booker releases a heavy sigh and the tension in his posture is eased. Whatever relief that would have brought the two is ruined as Booker’s presentation turns from defensive to defeated. “I just need to clear my head. I’ll be back.”

“Be careful,” Nicky demands, giving the other immortal a chaste kiss. A kiss the other doesn't return. Booker simply nods as he turns and walks out the door. Joe and Nicky watch as he leaves, they watch as he walks down the street with his hands in his pockets and his head down, not looking where he is going. Silently, they agree to follow within the next hour. 

“Booker, you haven’t aged a day!” A jovial voice exclaims, breaking through Booker’s thoughts. The immortal looks up seeing a man he vaguely recognizes as James Copley. The french man offers a tired grin to the other man.

“Trust me, I have,” Booker says, looking away. Something feels off about the situation, however, he cannot place it. Booker glances around for a moment before settling in next to Copley, his forearms resting on the railing to overlook the river, Thames. Copley examines him for a moment before turning around so he can look out at the park. 

“Someone came forward to me with a proposition. They want to make the world a better place, and considering your… the situation we thought you might be inclined to help,” Copley begins, Booker looks at him raising an eyebrow in question. The other man turns to look at Booker as he begins to speak again. “Hear him out, that’s all I ask.”

“Do I have a choice?” Booker questions and Copley nods even as people begin to turn towards them. Innocent bystanders who Booker wouldn’t have expected to attack them with how at ease they all looked. 

“You always have a choice, Booker. You can come with me freely. Or these men will attack you. It’s your choice really,” Copley says with a shrug of his shoulders. Booker didn't need to think. He just knew he had to get back to Joe and Nicky. So, without a second thought, the man turns on his heel to walk away. 

Booker didn’t get far before there was a fist flying at him. The immortal dodged with ease, using the momentum to flip the man over before moving onto the next who was attacking him. Booker took care not to kill any of them, but rather take them out of commission just long enough for him to getaway. Booker takes a breath and looks up to see he has incapitated a fair amount of his assailants. He allows himself a brief respite as the remaining surround him. 

“Dammit, Booker,” Copley exclaims. In the few seconds of confusion from Copley's statement, the men had managed to get the upper hand. One of the quickly jabbing something into his neck and the last thing Booker sees before his world goes black is Copley staring at him with something akin to disappointment. As if he had thought that Booker would willingly leave his lover's behind. That was something Booker could never do no matter how hurt he was, he would never leave his lovers behind. No matter how many times they had left him, he would take what he can get. 

“So sorry about the inconvenience, but it is a dire matter,” Merrick states as Booker finally comes to. The immortal is on his knees in front of the man, but the only men he will willingly get on his knees for are Nicky and Joe, so the man stands with some difficulty. Hands move to push him back down, but Merrick waves them off. 

“Dire wouldn’t require tranquilizing more or dragging me over here to talk to you,” Booker groused. He is sure by now Nicky and Joe will have realized that something is not right. However, with Copley’s expertise, he doubts there will be much either of his lovers will be able to find about his whereabouts. If they care that is. 

“Ah, but it is. It is dire to the world. I need answers and you will help me find them,” Merrick says with a grand gesture. Booker glares at the other man not liking where this is going one bit as the man throws him his pitch. Noting the indifference on Booker’s face, the mad pharmacist decides he should go a different route. “Of course, we could always bring the rest of you here and test them and then all of this would be on you.”

“No, leave them out of this!” Booker growls, attempting to lunge. However, someone is quick to kick his knee out from under him. Another takes a baton and with a well aimed hit fractures his knee. 

“It is up to you Mr. Booker. You can either give yourself up, give them up and walk away without a scratch, or you can bring them with you to help the experiment along with them,” Merrick states. It doesn’t take Booker long to come up with a conclusion. Anything to protect his family. Even if he is alone for a time, at least he won’t be worrying for those who make up his family. Besides, Joe and Nicky will continue to be happy together, they don’t need him. Andy may be left to deal with Nicky and Joe on their own, but she is used to it. 

“If I do this, you will leave them alone, yes?” Booker asks Merrick with a glance toward Copley. The other man was watching him with a calculating gaze, one that reminds him of his Italian lover. Booker gazes at the other man, a silent question being passed along hidden in his words. ‘You will make sure nothing happens to them, no?’ Copley gives the slightest nod, and Booker turns his attention back to the mad man standing in front of him. 

“I suppose, but you must stay here until I am done with you,” Merrick speaks, his voice grating on Booker’s thinning nerves. Booker gives a slight nod agreeing with the terms. He shakes off the hands that seize him, but clearly his captors do not get the hint he doesn’t want to be touched because seconds later there are hands grabbing at his arms again. Merrick nods to his men, and the men begin to drag him away to a lab. Booker does not fight, he is doing this for his family. If he does this, they will be left alone. 

It has been a couple of hours since Merrick has taken Booker away. Copley sits in the office of the mad pharmacist wondering what the man child could possibly want from him now. As far as James Copley is concerned the man got what he wants, there is no other reason for him to be here. 

“Ah, Mr. Copley,” Stephan Merrick exclaims, with a large smile as he enters the office. Copley doesn’t give the man an answer, opting to give him a slight nod instead. Merrick sits down on one of the chairs examining the former CIA agent before he speaks up. “I need those other immortals… Now, before you say anything, Booker has agreed to this.”

“I want to speak with him,” Copley speaks, his tone filled with thinly veiled suspicion. There is something wrong and yet he can’t place it. Merrick nods before motioning towards the doors. In walks in Booker, looking as disheveled as he had when he had first been brought in and nothing more. Copley focuses on the blue eyes as he speaks. “Are you sure you want this?”

“Of course. It might finally give us the answers that we have been looking for all this time,” Booker replies, his blue eyes as serious as they had been at the park the previous night. Copley nods, ignoring Merrick. Together the two walk off to devise a plan. Copley ignored the nagging feeling in the back of his head telling him that something wasn’t quite right. 

~

When they arrive, Andy and Booker, Booker’s taken away. No one fights for him each too angry at him, but the man doesn’t struggle in the grips of the men holding him. Instead he just walks away with them. The group of three are left alone for some time before Merrick enters the lab, trailing behind him is Booker. 

“I wanted to formally introduce you to your downfall,” Merrick states with a smirk. The trio glare at Booker, but their confusion is evident. They already knew their downfall. It was Booker. “Scan, B0404.”

“Scanning,” Booker said, his voice sounding mechanical. All of a sudden instead of Booker standing in front of them it is Andy. Nicky and Joe whip their heads to Andy, to make sure that she was still there. Realization hits them each with a ton of bricks. It wasn’t their Booker, their Sebastien, that had done this to them. They were all tricked. 

“Where is he? What did you do to him?” Nicky exclaims, his composure breaking for the first time. A feral gleam replacing the calculating shine that had occupied his blue eyes moments ago. Joe is struggling to sit up, his words a garbled mess of different languages both old and new as he prays this is false, that this is not their reality. Andy chants no, her head shaking back and forth, trying to believe that this isn’t happening. 

“Bring him in,” Merrick says, waving an arm at the leader of his own personal army. The Ex-navy seal, Keane, opens the door and two of the guards drag a tired Booker. The blond man is dragged in stumbling with his head down, refusing to look up. All three of them can see the fading bruises all over Booker’s body. Andy’s eyes are wide as she struggles to get to the man she looks at as a little brother. As for Nicky and Joe, they need to know their lover is okay, but they won’t be able to tell for sure until they see his eyes. 

“Sebastien!” Joe shouts, his voice stern with worry. There is no doubt in Nicky’s mind that had the restraints been possible to break out of Joe would already be out of them and by Booker’s side. Sebastien’s head snaps up at the exclamation, and for the first time, the three can see Booker’s eyes. His normally stormy blue eyes that were filled with love are now dull and scared. When Booker processes everyone in the room his eyes pass through a multitude of emotions including a dull fear, to panic, then the blue eyes finally settle on fury. 

“You promised!” Booker exclaims struggling against his restraints after processing the sight of his family. For his troubles, he receives a bullet to the head that has them all learching out of their cots trying to get to him. Each of them with shouts of worry and anger. They watch as Booker comes to again, throwing up blood, watching as the blood drips down his mouth and onto his tattered clothes. 

“Stop!” Andy shouts, lurching forward. Their captors had left the one restraint slightly loose and it was just enough that Andy could reach for one of their guards. The guard was quickly taken out, and the woman was sitting up just enough so that Booker could catch sight of her bloody wound. Booker, shocked and exhausted, could do nothing as Andy was jabbed with yet another tranquilizing dart, knocking her out almost instantly. Nicky and Joe's struggle renews, as their shock fades when the dart comes out. They struggle harder as Andy slumps down and Booker has a gun pointed at his head. 

“I don’t make promises. I make arrangements that can be broken. I also do not ask my test subjects permission. Take him to the other lab,” Merrick orders. The struggles from everyone renew as Booker’s eyes widen in fear as he half-heartedly fights against the men holding him back, too overcome with fear. For his troubles, he earns a swift kick to his stomach, and the french speaking man gets the wind knocked out of him. 

“Don’t touch him!” Nicky shouts, his struggles doubling as he watches a fear-induced Booker begin to kick and scream trying to escape the grasp of their captors. A far cry for the normally composed man who even in the worst situations retained a quiet fear. For Nicky and Joe, the fear makes their protective tendencies flare, and their streak of possessiveness at another man touching their lover only adds to their anger. 

“What are you doing?! Booker? Booker! Sebastian!” Joe shouts struggling, trying to get to the other male. Beside him Nicky is also struggling. Their Sebastien, the one that they love to the moon and back is thin, he looks like he has been through hell and back. How badly had they hurt him in the week they had him? 

~

“Where’s Booker?” Nile questions on her arrival. Nicky and Joe say nothing as they quickly collect their weapons before setting out on a warpath. 

“The Booker you knew wasn’t the real Book. It had the same mannerisms, but it was a robot taught to mimic a person,” Andy says, wincing as she stands. 

“Oh my god, what the fuck?!” Nile exclaims, it was only her first week as an immortal and all this is happening. 

“Don’t think this is normal because it’s not,” is the only answer Nile gets as Andy walks out of the door. Together the two women take out any remaining guards, and make their way towards Nicky and Joe. When they arrive Joe is holding a sobbing Booker who is collapsed on the floor. He has multiple lacerations and there is a large hole in his stomach. It is slow healing. “Why isn’t he healing quickly?”

“Apparently, they had enough time to make something to slow down the regeneration process so they could watch it happen more clearly,” Nicky says, his voice tight with anger. 

~

The fight was over quickly. No one was a match for two angry lovers who have a millennia of fighting experience and an angry older sister who has forgotten more ways to kill then an entire army will ever know. That night Booker, Nicky, and Joe lie in bed. Nile and Andy had gotten another area to stay in allowing the three the time and space they needed.

“You will never be alone. Not as long as we can help it,” Nicky states, wrapping the younger immortal in his arms on one side while Joe does the same on the other side. Together they make a Booker sandwich and promise that they won’t let anything like this happen again. Booker believes them knowing in his heart he will never be alone and never has been alone. In his heart he carries memories of his sons, his wife, his new family, his lovers. Most importantly though, in his heart he knows that portions of Nicky and Joe’s hearts live in him, just like portions of his own heart live in them. That night Booker chants “I will never be alone” until he falls asleep, and soon enough the five words become a mantra he says consistently until his final death. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please give me feedback? 
> 
> ALSO 
> 
> Ask before translating and reposting. I will almost always give permission, but please ask first.


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